Thanks for your comment. To be honest, I don't really worry about it personally. I recharge batteries when they are fully discharged (obviously) and I recharge partially discharged batteries when I need them to be fully charged. If batteries show signs of degradation, the chargers have an analyse/repair function. Repair mode will first charge the battery to its maximum capacity. It will then fully discharge the battery and the value in mAh that is discharged will give you an indication of the battery health. This figure should be close to the battery's rated capacity. Finally, repair mode will fully charge the battery again ready for use. One word of warning. This mode works perfectly with the Powerex charger, but I have never got it to work with the Littokala. At some stage in the charge/discharge/charge cycle with the Littokala it just stops. To avoid memory effect, people recommend fully charging and discharging each time, but often this is not practical. If I go out for the day and want fully charged batteries I will often charge partially charged batteries. What I discovered when I first got into chargers and rechargeable batteries is that it is very easy to get obsessive about keeping every battery in absolute tip-top shape. This gets very time-consuming and it doesn't actually make that much difference. Initially, I had two chargers going 24 hours a day charging, discharging, testing and repairing. Now, I just charge and use batteries whenever I need to and I'm no longer obsessive about it. It hasn't made much difference and I haven't noticed any problems with memory effect.

@@PhilUKNet Thanks for getting back and thanks for the information and advice. From everything I've seen and read rechargeable is definitely the way to go. I'm late to this party but glad that I have finally found it.

@@stanmakowski1985 It's definitely the way to go. I have so many remotes, kids' toys and electronic equipment in the house that use AA/AAA batteries that it would cost me a fortune in normal batteries. There is an upfront investment, but you save a lot in the long run. Get a good charger, get reputable batteries and beware of fakes online, of which there are many. My Powerex and Liitokala chargers have both been fine. Genuine Eneloop batteries are very good. The IKEA Ladda batteries are similar, but cheaper. However, IKEA changed the product a few years ago and many people say that the original Ladda batteries were better.

Hello Paul, I do it all the time. My Ladda AA batteries are rated at 2450 mAh and Powerex recommend charging batteries of this capacity at 1200 mA. On my Powerex model there is no 'soft' charge option. You just select the charge and discharge currents in mA. Ladda batteries are just the same as other Ni-MH batteries. There has been speculation that they're made at the same factory as Eneloops, but with a different branding. I don't know if that is true.

Very interesting, thanks for the info. I've read before that the earlier Ladda batteries were better and that possibly IKEA changed their supplier. They used to sell 900mAh AAA's, but IKEA where I am in Thailand no longer offer these. Just the 750mAh ones. I've only had experience of the grey ones, not the white ones. When I analysed the 2450mAh AA Ladda batteries they all came very close to the 2450mAh rating, with one or two above. One thing I've discovered recently (as you point out) is that Eneloops hold their charge better. I fully charged all my batteries a month or two ago. Recently, I went to use some of the Laddas and they had lost quite a lot of charge - maybe 25-30%? It was necessary to top them up again. Eneloops are supposed to retain 90% of their charge after a year. This was also the case with the Powerex batteries I bought - they have a high capacity, but they don't hold their charge as well as Eneloops. Even though some other brands have a high capacity and are cheaper, Eneloops probably still have the edge overall because of their ability to retain a charge. With my other brands now I make a habit of topping them up before use even if they were fully charged a short time ago.

@@PhilUKNet Well, what's sort of confusing is that ikea currently sells two sets of AA and AAA batteries at diff capacities. I can't remember what they are or the colors. All I'm concerned with right now is the 'green' which replaced the old 'white' AA. Both rated at 2450, so they should perform the same, right? But, right off, the 'green' performed only to the same level as standard eneloops (1900). I'm still investigating this. Beating the dead horse and all but I may have been wrong because I just assumed that when I charged the batteries they were at full capacity. I have a nitecore and opus 3100 and comparing 'green' vs 'white' vs eneloop, both chargers don't seem to consistently charge the 'green' to full. Don't know why. Sometimes the opus will stop charging part way thru. There's no way to tell with the nitcore because it only displays 'charging' or 'complete' and no mah that went into the battery. The opus will show mah but if it stops charging, the number is wrong. You can put the battery back in and it will keep charging. For some reason, the opus thinks the battery is full, probably from whatever the voltage is. The only consistent way of finding the actual charge is by setting the mode to charge/test which first discharges the battery and then recharges and shows you the mah at the end. So the battery will show around 2450mah but also some screwy voltage like 1.38 where it should be 1.45 or higher. But no such issues with the eneloop or 'white'. The capacities and voltage are consistent with what I expect every time. But, is this an issue with the charger, the battery or both, I don't know. But I have been able to get a higher capacity out of the 'green' battery but only if I keep recharging in the opus. I wish I had another battery charger/tester to compare with but there's a limit to this rabbit hole where I'll go in terms of money and time. btw, I also tested some cheap chinese batteries rated at 3300 and though not one was about 1900, I got consistent results. It's just the 'green's that are an issue.

I think I know what the issue is with these new green batteries. They self-discharge faster. I bought an opus 3100 just for testing these. I did set the charger to 'charge/test' so that when it finished I knew they were fully charged. Did several sets of standard eneloop, ikea white, and ikea green just to make sure I got consistent results. After charging the batteries typically read 1.45v or higher and at battery capacity, 1900 for eneloop, and 2450 for both white and green. Not exact but in the ballpark. Couple weeks later, the batteries were all around 1.35v which I expected but then when I put them in the charger and set the mode to charge, the energy in was about 250mah for the eneloop and ikea white, but around 700 for the green. I did this several times and got not exact numbers but the 'green' had discharged more than twice the energy lost with the other batteries. This is consistent with my original observation that used in somewhat constant load like a flashlight, these 'green' batteries are not much better than the standard eneloops. The old white batteries were rated for 500 cycles but I can't find any info on these but why pay more for a battery that has the same capacity as the standard eneloops, even the same capacity as their own 1900 rated batteries. I would have returned these already but the store is 20 miles away. They won't publish my review so I may just do a review of my own on youtube.

@@johnsmith-sk1ep I've noticed this too. At one point I tried to keep all my batteries charged ready for use. However, after some time passed they had lost a lot of capacity. What I do now is charge batteries just before use. There is no point trying to keep charged when they lose so much in storage. I find that the original Eneloops are best for holding a charge in storage. Unfortunately, I only have the new green Laddas and don't have any of the originals with which to make a comparison. Thanks for sharing your tests and observations!

Mostly, I use analyse mode or charge mode. When batteries are charging, I couldn't work out why the mAh was so high compared to the rated capacity. As you say, it's efficiency. This reading is what the charger puts out, not what the battery accepts. Analyse mode, I believe, measures the battery capacity on the discharge cycle. It's been a bit of a learning curve, but I've learnt more from comments. Thanks for adding to my knowledge!

Hi Paul. I don't really have any preference. I recently bought a Vapcell S4, which is similar to the Liitokala. The Vapcell and Liitokala chargers provide more information that the Powerex (if that is important) and charge a bit quicker. If I have a battery that gives an error, the Powerex does a better job at repairing degraded batteries. However, none of my Ladda batteries have gone bad yet, so no need to do any repairs. If I just have a few batteries to charge, I find myself using the Liitokala most of the time, but the other two are fine.

@@PhilUKNet Thanks Phil. Next week I will buy a bunch of AAA and AA batteries + charger from IKEA in Bandung Indonesia. Your video was very helpful for me.

@@paulcook7986 Glad it helped! Regarding the AAA batteries, IKEA used to sell 900mAh Laddas but I could only find 750mAh. I only have Ladda AA, which come in 1900mAh and 2450mAh versions. All mine are rated at 2450mAh.

To be honest, I had never heard of LiFePO4 before I saw your comment. I had to look it up (lithium iron phosphate battery). The information on the LiitoKala box says only Li-Ion, Ni-MH and Ni-CD. There is nothing about LiFePO4. Possibly, it could handle LiFePO4, but you would have to contact the manufacturer to find out. I don't know.

@@PhilUKNet Thank You

@@WaschyNumber1 No problem! Thanks for making me aware of a new battery technology!

@@PhilUKNet it's not really new, it exist for decades now 😊

@@WaschyNumber1 New to me!

My apologies to all Swedish people!

According to Wikipedia, alkaline batteries are about 11.5 grams. Rechargeable NiMH batteries are around 14-15 grams.

I've not had that problem. What charger do you use? I have Powerex and Liitokala chargers and they have been fine. One more thought. I have never heard of fake Laddas, but did you get them from IKEA and are they genuine? I have bought lots of batteries online that have turned out to be fake.

@@PhilUKNet yeah they are from Ikea. My charger is the c9000. So it's not just me, this is wild

@@locklear308 Are you just doing a regular charge? I've had some similar problems with the Powerex C9000 when doing a break-in cycle. This was with Eneloops, not Laddas. It took forever and on the final charge cycle the mAh count was going very high with the batteries getting quite hot. As you say, the mAh value goes way beyond the battery capacity but I haven't had any explode (yet). Are you just having the problem with Laddas, or does it do the same with other brands? It could be a problem with the C9000. I've never seen this problem with the Liitokala charger. The C9000 will keep charging until the battery can't accept any more charge, but when the battery is full the charger still seems to think it can be charged more. For quite some time now I've just been doing regular charges (not break-ins) and I haven't seen the problem.

@@PhilUKNet oh yeah I used to use the break-in mode but then it seemed like it was just being ridiculously hard on them so now I just discharged all the way, and then charge back up. That seems to work better and I can keep an eye on them. Currently right now I am discharging the two ladda's that both seem to have charged up to like 1.7 from what I can tell... I'm not sure if I should dispose of them after or what

@@locklear308 I would probably try charging them again - maybe using a different charge rate to the one you used before. If the rating is 1900mAh the Powerex recommendation is to charge at 900mA. If it happens again and you are worried about the batteries exploding, then maybe dispose of them or hang on to them, get a different brand of charger, and try again. Having two different chargers has worked out quite well for me. The Powerex is good for repairing bad batteries, but for general charging the Liitokala works well and gives more information.

I guess it depends on what you are using the batteries for and how convenient or inconvenient it is to change batteries. If it’s not a problem changing batteries, just use the cheaper 1900mAh. If you're making videos and, for example, using batteries to power a wireless microphone, you won't want the batteries dying mid video. With more critical applications, I would feel more comfortable using 2450mAh.

@@PhilUKNet Also the fact that 1900 have 1000 cycles but 2450 has only 500 cycles.

@@smarttravellife1925 I didn't realise that. Thanks for the heads up!

It's out of warranty now and it works fine, but I never realized before how inaccurate it was. It wasn't until I bought some new batteries rated at 2450mAh and got readings of 3700mAh that I realized there was a problem. As I said in the video, I'll just use the other one now when I want to analyze the capacity.

@@PhilUKNet I've been in contact with them often enough, bought my first C9000, not the pro more than a decade ago, and they've always been swift in response. My C9000 have never been off, nor have I ever heard about it being reported by others so your must've had a really bad mishap on its birthday. I'm pretty certain Maha would like to know about it, that unit is just plain faulty. If you get those numbers for disharge, I wouldn't trust it for anything else either, but I would contact Maha. Works fine but "never realised how inaccurate it is" seems like a contradiction in terms to me. 😀Great video though, great channel, just wanted to chime in.

@@SweDennis Thanks for the info. I'm so used to bad customer service these days that it's good to hear that Maha are responsive. I guess it does sound like a contradiction, but it really does work fine! All 4 modes do exactly what they should do, which is more than I can say about the Liitokala because the Repair mode doesn't work. The only problem is that when I charge a completely discharged battery using the Powerex it tells me the capacity rating is far higher than is possible. If I want to get a more accurate value I can always use the Liitokala. I am also pleased to hear your overall satisfaction with the Powerex. I received a comment previously in which the person had nothing good at all to say about Powerex chargers or batteries. My Powerex has been fine and, as I said in the video, I've had lots of success with the Break-In mode, which has fixed several batteries. Thanks for your useful feedback!

@@PhilUKNet I agree with Dennis regarding the C9000 chargers. I have two of the C9000 Pro versions and two of the prior version C9000 WizardOne versions. All four of them give me accurate and very consistent readings for my Eneloop, PowerEx, Ladda, La Crosse, and Imedion batteries. They are actually the chargers I rely on for my capacity readings over all my other 6+ chargers. Sounds like something is not right with your charger or maybe you received a knockoff.

@@F16_viper_pilot It was my misunderstanding. The charger is OK. I have a better understanding now!

I could do, but I shouldn't really have to! I've read on forums that other people have experienced the same problem. The charge/discharge current makes quite a bit of difference, apparently. The lowest you can set it on the Liitokala is 250mA, but the Powerex sets it to 10% of the battery capacity, which is a lot lower. I think this is why the Powerex has been a lot more effective with repairing batteries with problems.

@@PhilUKNet @Phil UK Net I see. Thanks for the reply. You see I am kinda in the market for one of these. But for me battery repair and so is less important than an accurate read. Still... Question, and my apologies if it is stupid... If your battery has 2500 mAh as capacity, will that mean that the 250 is 10% then, or am I messing up the units and stuff? Because if so it would be the same as long as you don't use batteries of less capacity. Although that would suck for AAA's with this device...

@@MrAnakin1996 My comments on accuracy regarding the Powerex were probably wrong because of a misunderstanding. I was checking while charging batteries, but the charger measures what it tries to put into the battery, not what actually goes in. This measurement is therefore misleading. However, I don't know why I don't see the same problem with the Liitokala. To check the capacity you need to do it on a discharge cycle and the accuracy of the Powerex seems fine. You're right that 10% of 2,500 mAh is 250 mAh! However, I use mostly AAA's and the capacity is typically 750 mAh. If you're not too interested in repairing, then the Liitokala may be better for you. The display is better and it gives you more information than the Powerex. As you said before, if you want to do a repair you can always do manual charge and discharge cycles. Of course, there are other charger models on the market besides these two. The SkyRC ones are supposed to be very good. I will maybe get one soon, but that hasn't happened yet. A charger that combines all the best points of the Powerex and Liitokala would be ideal.

@@PhilUKNet I see. Well that sums it up neatly. Yeah, like I said, that is not good for AAA's. I was just a bit confused what unit/meaning and so the 250 was/had when it came into the picture and how it all corrolated to battery capacity. Even with higher capacity AAA's, say 900, that is a *huge* difference when it comes to repairs/maintenance. I am not disinterested in it, it was just less important to me than an accurate reading for my use and purposes at the moment. But the 250 limit sucks, to me more than manually having to do the cycles. If you get the SkyRC I may look forward to a review of it here then, if you make one. Thanks for the comment engagements. :)

True. It doesn't affect me as I only use NiMH AA and AAA batteries, but it is a limitation if you do.

Dec

Unfortunately, by the time I discovered Ladda IKEA had already stopped selling the originals. I've heard from several sources that the originals were better and some people suggest IKEA changed the supplier. Thanks for more confirmation.

@@PhilUKNet 2450 mah are eneloop pro 4 generations, AA 1900 and AAA 700 are white eneloop. The white eneloop is good for devices that do not consume a lot of electricity, I hope that IKEA will return the AAA 900 :(

@@Phyxsius_85 Thanks for the info. I hope so too!